Chapter Six

Mark did
not know why he felt that way, but when private detective Harry Smiley entered
his office, he looked more like an Italian mob enforcer to Mark. Granted, the
name Smiley was not Italian. Nevertheless, he still looked the part.

He seemed
to be in his forties and was as wide as Mark’s front door. He was very short,
and looked like a person who would relish a knife fight. His head was
completely shaved, and he had a diamond earring in his left earlobe, with a
noticeable scar on his left cheek, which made him look more menacing. When God was distributing handsome faces to
men, he must not have been present, Mark thought.

After Harry
Smiley introduced himself, he looked at Daniela, who was still seated on the
corner chair, and then said to Mark, “I was hoping to talk to you alone.What I have to say is very confidential.”

He wore a
blue Guayabera over khaki pants that seemed too small for his huge physique,
and had a booming voice, which made Mark wonder whether he was a member of the
Sicilian opera, if one even existed.

“This is
Daniela Curtis, my paralegal. I don’t hide anything from her. Have a seat,”
Mark said to the private detective, while pointing to one of the two chairs
facing his desk.

“I’ll come
right to the point, Mr. Stone,” Harry said, fixing his eyes on him as soon as
he was seated. “I have a client who is not too happy about you getting involved
in the Prentiss case.”

How did they find out about this so
fast? I have yet to do anything in the case and I’m already making someone
nervous, Mark
thought. That did not make him feel good. When he lived in New York, he had
heard that the mob was involved in real estate.Hearing Harry convey his objection to Mark’s involvement in this
construction contract case, made Mark wonder whether the same situation existed
in Florida.

It was quite
possible that Harry’s client had nothing to do with the mob. But whoever the
client was, Mark knew that the person might be dangerous.

“Who is
your client? And why would your client care about my cases?” Mark asked, as he
returned Harry’s gaze.

Harry waved
his fat fingers, dismissing Mark’s questions. “I don’t reveal the names of my
clients.You should know that. We know
that you’ve had some problems getting clients lately, so my client wants to be
generous and help you if you drop the case.”

Mark, who
expected Harry’s response regarding the identity of his client, was not
offended. He could see that Daniela wanted to say something, but he was glad
that she didn’t.

“If I agree to drop the case, how is your client going to help?”
he asked, pretending to be interested in his offer.

“My client is willing to hire you and pay you sixty-five thousand
dollars to write a will and a prenuptial agreement for me.”

Mark’s
reaction caused Harry to smile, which did not improve his look. “This is not a bribe.My client believes that if you spend time on
the Prentiss case, you won’t have time to do the necessary research to learn
about this type of law to be able to create these legal documents for me.”

“I see,”
Mark said pensively. “If I take your case, what happens to the Prentiss case?”

“That’s my
point,” Harry said, widening his smile. Mark was expecting to see
nicotine-stained teeth. Surprisingly however, he was wrong.

Harry
continued, “The Prentiss case will conflict with my interests and, as you know,
an attorney can’t keep cases that have conflicting interests. You will have to
choose.”

“Those are some expensive legal documents,”
Mark observed, as he twiddled his thumbs over the desk.

“What can I say?” Harry replied, with
satisfaction in his voice. “We believe in your ability to create these
documents and we want to pay you well for them.”

“So who is
hiring us, you or your client?” Daniela asked, which prompted both of them to
look at her. She had been silent and they had almost forgotten that she was in
the room.

“Me, of
course,” Harry said, shifting on his seat to take a closer look at Daniela.
“You see, I am not rich, Ms. Curtis. My client is just a friend who wants to
help me to have a will and a prenuptial agreement to protect my interests.”

“I can see
how you would have a lot of interests to protect,” Daniela said.If she was mocking him, it did not show.
“When is the wedding?”

“The date
has not been set yet,” Harry replied. He paused momentarily, as if he was
giving some thought to Daniela’s question. “In fact, I haven’t made any
decision about who the bride is going to be. But I will definitely need the
prenup in advance.All I will have to do
then is to just write in her name, when the right woman comes along.”

“I see!”
Mark said, stroking his chin.If I had listened to my gut, I would not be
here facing bribery and possible mafia involvement in this case, he thought.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Smiley. I can’t help because I’ve already accepted the Prentiss
case. You can come back after I’m finished with the case. I can write the
papers for you at that time.

He shifted
back in his seat to face Mark. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. It might be too
late. I might have died or gotten married.”

“I can see
how your death or an emergency wedding could ruin your life.”

Harry’s
facial expression annoyed Mark further. He got up from behind his desk,
signaling that the conversation was over. “Death and marriage can be so cruel.
But I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Too bad,”
Harry said, also getting up. “You’re making a mistake. My client is very powerful
and is not going to be happy about this.”

“Did you
make this offer to John Curtis too?” Daniela asked.

Harry
frowned, turned slightly to look at Daniela, and asked, “Who is John Curtis?”

“John
Curtis was the attorney who was previously handling the Prentiss case, and
Daniela is his daughter,” Mark said. He figured that if the mob was connected
to the death of Daniela’s father, Harry might be caught off-guard and reveal
some hint of emotion, confirming the connection. However, Harry, who was still
looking at Daniela, remained impassive.

“I’ve heard
about the lawyer named Curtis,” Harry said. “I’m sorry about his death. He did
a lot of good in this community, but I never met him.Besides, he was very wealthy. Why would he
need sixty-five thousand dollars?”

Harry’s
last statement made Mark feel cheap. Suddenly, Mark had an idea and, instead of
responding, he looked at Daniela and said, “Daniela, put the clipboard down and
let’s walk Mr. Smiley to the elevator.”

Daniela,
who didn’t know why Mark was being so polite to a guy who had just tried to
bribe him, got up, left the papers behind, and followed both of them to the
elevator, which was around the corner.

Mark and
Daniela shook hands with him, and as soon as the elevator door closed behind
Harry, Mark quickly said, “Let’s go! We need to reach the parking garage before
he gets there.”

Before
Daniela could object, Mark was already running toward the stairs.Daniela rushed after Mark, and they both ran
down the flights of stairs.

Daniela was
lucky that she was not wearing high heels. “Do you really believe that we’ll
get there before him?” she asked, as she sprinted after Mark.

“You’ve
seen how slow the elevator is,” he replied, as they reached the final flight of
stairs that led to the parking garage.

Mark had
left his jacket in his office and Daniela did not get a chance to pick up her
purse.When they entered the garage
under the building, Mark rushed toward his old Toyota Camry.

He pulled
out the keys from his front pocket and used the remote control to open the
doors for them.They were both out of
breath when they got into the car.

Mark sat
behind the wheel and waited. Daniela, who was sitting in the front passenger
seat next to him, asked him, “What was that all about?”

“I’m
thinking that after we rejected his offer, he might have to go somewhere to
meet someone to report what happened. If he does, we might be able to discover
who his client is.”

Soon
afterwards, they saw Harry enter the parking garage.He got into a blue Ford Taurus and drove out
of the building.

They
followed him at a distance as he drove north toward the criminal courthouse
building, which was several miles away from the civil courthouse in downtown
Miami.Mark passed the criminal
courthouse and drove a few blocks past the nearby Jackson Memorial Hospital,
until they reached an old two-story office building, with a small parking lot
in front. The building was painted light yellow and had several bail bond signs
up front. One sign also read “Harry Smiley, P.I.”

“Damn, we
followed him to his office,” Mark said, as they saw him park his car and enter
the building. “I guess you’re right. He was talking on his cell phone. Maybe he
already called his client.”

“Let’s wait
to see if he comes out,” Daniela suggested, as they watched from across the
street. “You might still be right.”

They waited
for another ten minutes.They were about
to give up, when Harry came out.He got
into his car and drove a few more blocks to a strip mall. He then got out and
entered a barbershop.

Mark was
speechless.He watched him sit in the
barber chair and realized that the trip was wasted.

“I can’t
believe it. It’s 10:30 in the morning and the guy is getting a haircut,” he
swore under his breath.“He doesn’t even
have any hair.”

“No. Let’s
go to his office,” Mark proposed. “He must have a file there on his client.”

“What are
you going to do?” Daniela asked suspiciously. “Do you think his secretary will
just allow us to come in and look at his file?”

“I don’t
know, but I’ll think of something to say,” Mark answered. He did not have a clue how he was going to do
it, but he was determined to find out who Harry’s client was. He believed that
knowing the identity of the client might be the key to the case, and even to
finding out if Daniela’s father was really murdered.

###

They drove
back quickly to the building and parked in one of the guest parking spots
before going in. Harry’s office was on the first floor. It was the last office
on the right at the end of a long hallway. There was a small sign on the door
with Harry’s name on it.

They tried
to turn the knob to enter, but the door was locked. Mark then knocked on the
door, but there was no response. The building was old and the door frame was
not completely flush with the door.

“I have a
flat screw driver in my car. I think I can use it to push the spindle back
inside the door to pull the door open,” Mark suggested.

Daniela’s
eyes grew wide. “Are you trying to break in?” She was dismayed by Mark’s
suggestion.

Mark, who
was trying to convince himself that he had the courage to do it, said, “Harry
is at the barbershop.It will take him
about forty-five minutes to finish. All I want is to quickly search his files
or his desk to find out who his client is. It won’t take long. We’re talking
about possible murder.”

“I still
don’t think it’s a good idea,” Daniela said. She was shaken and conflicted by
Mark’s proposition. On the one hand, she wanted to find out who her father’s
murderer was. On the other hand, she did not want to break the law.

Sensing
Daniela’s hesitation, Mark said, “Wait here while I get the screw driver from
my car. I’ll be right back.”

When Mark
returned, it did not take him long to open the door.Harry’s office was a small room, with the
desk by the only window in the room.The
shades were pulled down and it was dark inside.

Mark
flipped the switch by the door to turn on the lights.There were three chairs in the room. Two were
guest chairs and one was Harry’s chair, which was behind the desk.Like the desk, all of the chairs were full of
papers.

Author

FL

About

Oliver Sands is the the pseudonym for the author of the most anticipated legal thriller, The Kappa File. He is an attorney and handles government litigation.
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